Charles Larmore

February 27, 2008

Lectures on the History of Political Philosophy
By John Rawls
Edited by Samuel Freeman
(Harvard University Press, 476 pp., $35)
Ever since ancient times, philosophers have sought to define the proper goals of political life. Yet in the age of modern democracy, when citizens themselves are held to decide through the various institutions of government the laws and the norms under which they will live together, political philosophy can look profoundly undemocratic.